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Monday, September 5, 2011

Red Velvet Ice Cream

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

~ Kahlil Gibran

My sister loves red velvet cupcakes, and every time there has been a children's birthday party at any of our homes, these distinctive, red-colored treats invariably make their way onto the party menu and into the kiddies' bloodstream. Me, I'm not a big fan of red velvet anything. The combination of strong artificial coloring, buttermilk, vinegar and cocoa somehow manages to put me off. Moreover, the amount of red food coloring often used in these recipes (sometimes up to 3 tablespoons) scares the hell out of me.

Undeniably, there are many red velvet (RV) treat lovers out there, and I've seen anything from RV cakes, RV cookies, RV cream pies, to RV macarons and even scones! And then there's RV ice cream, the most famous of which is Momofuku Milk Bar's Red Velvet Soft Serve Ice Cream. The last straw was when I spotted this frozen beauty on Pinterest. That drooly snapshot made me decide almost instantaneously to overcome my disdain at the vast array of RV goodies out there and make something red velvety-ish in my kitchen.

And what better to start with than red velvet ice cream? Most red velvet recipes would call for 2 to 3 tablespoons of red food coloring, but I had goosebumps just thinking about how that amount would alter my DNA, so I reduced that to 1 1/2 teaspoons. It all depends on the strength of your coloring agent and I suppose mine just seemed lethal enough to impart such a deep, bloody hue.

I used the egg yolk method to make the custard base but if I were to try this again, I'd probably use mascarpone cheese and dispense with the eggs. And I did wonder if using beetroot juice instead of artificial coloring would make a big difference to the overall taste and color? Next time, I'll know what to do. For this batch, though, the cocoa flavor really came through giving a slight bitterness, and the buttermilk added a pleasing tart note that balanced out the sweetness. If you are a fan of red velvet edibles, then you have to give this a try. It's certainly the sexiest-looking ice cream I've ever made in all of my short, churning history! Oh, if you're wondering about that chocolate cone, I made that too using this recipe.

The Bowery Poetry Club in New York is a haven for many performing spoken word poets. While I'm nowhere close to being a poet, I do like to listen to spoken word poems, with all the intonations, emphasis and melodiousness of the speaker's voice. Here I share with you a gem entitled, "What Teachers Make" by poet Taylor Mali. Teachers are truly some of my favorite people in the entire universe. I had several really great ones growing up who inadvertently helped shape the course of my life and made me the person I am today. And now my kids also have fantastic teachers, many of whom I have great respect and admiration for, and several have even become our good friends throughout the years. This poem is a tribute to all the selfless teachers out there, for without them, there will be no other professions.

2. Pour some of the simmering cream into egg yolks while stirring. Return this mixture to the pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat.

3. Stir in buttermilk or crème fraiche, cocoa powder, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool. Cover with plastic wrap so that the wrap is in contact with the top of your mixture; refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (around 4-8 hours). I placed mine in the freezer for 45 minutes to expedite things.

4. Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer ice cream to a covered container and place in your freezer for at least 2-4 hours to get the best consistency.

62 comments:

This red velvet ice cream looks so unbelievably delicious! I will definitely be bookmarking this for future use. Also, really great poem! Some of my best friends are teachers and I have had some pretty amazing ones in my life who have given me so much.

My daughter wants red velvet for her birthday cake on Thursday and I've always been a little leery of the 3 bottles of red food coloring that go into the batter! I really should try the beet juice. This is one amazing ice cream...the color is just gorgeous! And I love your little man showing his personality :)

Lizzy, maybe you can make your daughter reed velvet ICE CREAM cake for her birthday instead? Oh, I tried baking a cake with beetroot once, and guess what, the red color changed into golden brown upon baking! So no, unfortunately beetroot wouldn't a red velvet cake make ;-). That little guy and I, we have so much fun together that I wish he didn't have to grow up so fast!

My oh my! That IS one sexy ice cream cone! I, too, am usually put off by the icky sweetness and terribly fake coloring of RV desserts... But this? I could TOTALLY get into this.

Freshly cooked custard AND your hand-rolled chocolate cones! You are the best mom ever. I love the idea of slightly bitter/tart red velvet flavoring... Sounds way better than the not-so-great taste I've come to expect from RV!

Christine@the sugar apothecary, so happy that you're willing to give red velvet a chance even though you're not that into it like me. Well, once in a while, we've got to live dangerously, haven't we? As for being the best mom, ask my kids and they'll cheekily tell you something else...haha.

This is stunning and you have some strong red dye! I have the gels used for dying tubs of frosting, so that might work for me! I don't know why I wasn't before...I'm now following you on google follower!

Alex, haha... As you can see, I tried to pile mine rather high onto the cone. I managed two scoops and the top one eventually slipped off onto my camera lens as I was shooting it! Aaargh, the perils of food photography... ;-).

Ann, thanks so much for following! You're here so often, that follower thing is merely a formality and great to remind you of new posts, I suppose. I have those gels too, but they're in itty bitty little tubs that I thought they might not be enough to color the ice cream. Maybe I'm wrong, they're probably in sold in smaller quantities for a reason!

Maya, what an incredible ice-cream..love the color, making it even more delicious,photo are yummy!..and your son is adorable..ok let me say "handsome" my son don't like to call him cutie names:)))) Have a wonderful Tuesday sweetie!!!

You are the ice cream expert!!! I love every single one you have made so far, but I must confess...this is my favorite. Great idea to make your own cones. Thanks for sharing and by the way, your son is adorable :)

Nami, what are you talking about? Red velvet is a classic flavor, I haven't created anything new...I just simply turned it into ice cream. LOL. But a big THANK YOU and hugs to you for your kind comments, anyway!

That is the perrrrfect dessert for your kitchen. Do another kitchen photoshoot with the whole family in fun wigs and eating that ice cream. Have you reminded your kiddos how lucky they are to have a diva for a mama?

JENNY! LOL, you crack me up, gurl. We don't have enough wigs to go around and I doubt if the teenagers and Foodivo would want to destroy their street cred, you know. So that basically leaves my 7-year old and me, we have nothing to lose! Plus we have fun fooling around in front of the camera :-).

The ice cream looks amazing. I also love that quote and have used it myself in the past, but unfortunately I used it in reference to what a teacher should be as we had a rough year with a horrible teacher. But we have had many great teachers who I adore, and a great teacher makes all the difference in your child wanting to learn and fostering a learning environment.

Hiya Pot@egb, is it summer where you are right now? Well, I hope you try this ice cream out then. I know how much you and Kettle like making your own ice creams, it's about time that ice cream maker comes out of hiatus now!